Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Steve Hiscock
In a Western Canadian battle, the Calgary Roughnecks (0-1) traveled to Saskatoon to take on the Saskatchewan Rush (1-0) on Saturday night for the first game of the season for both teams. Calgary has a much different team compared to last year as Curtis Dickson, Shane Simpson and Ethan Ticehurst have all moved to Vancouver while Nick Rose went back to Toronto. Calgary also showed off their new Red and White uniforms they have returned to this year. The Rush were trying to replicate what they did last year by making it to the NLL finals and hoping to make the next step by winning it all this year. Saskatchewan jumped out to a 10 – 5 lead at half time and looked like they were going to cruise to an easy win, but Calgary continued to chip away at the lead tying it up at 13 late in the fourth quarter. But the Rush would seal it with three goals in the last five minutes of the game to win 16 – 13.
Twenty seconds into the first quarter Calgary got called on an 8 second count and Jake Boudreau (1G, 1A) went in on Aiden Walsh (24 saves) beating him to the far side to score on the first shot of the game and the Rush took an early 1 – 0 lead. Two minutes later while on the power play Robert Church (4G) fired an overhand shot from the top and beat Walsh to the stick side to double the Rush lead to 2 – 0. Three minutes later Noah Manning (2G, 1A) of the Roughnecks would get a rebound off of the backboards, beat his defender and his low to low shot beat Frank Scigliano (38 saves) through the legs for his first NLL goal to make it 2 – 1 for the Rush. A minute later Austin Shanks (3G, 4A) passed to Ryan Keenan (2G, 5A) and his overhand shot beat Walsh through the legs and the Rush lead was 3 – 1 halfway through the first. It took only 30 seconds before they tallied another. Shanks fired one from way out on his wrong side and went low stick side to make it 4 – 1 for the Rush. With less than three minutes remaining in the frame, Tyler Pace (3G, 4A) would take an overhand shot to the far post and in behind Scigliano cutting the Rush lead in half at 4 – 2.
The Rush started off the second quarter with another quick goal in the first minute. Church came around a pick and his high to low shot found the low corner and it was 5 – 2 Rush. Less than a minute later Shanks came off of the bench, took a side arm rip from the top to beat Walsh low to give the Rush a 6 – 2 lead. Calgary would get that one back less than a minute later. Pace fired a low-to-low shot that beat Scigliano through the legs to make it 6 – 3 for the Rush. Once again, Saskatchewan came right back. Zach Manns (3G, 2A) cut through the middle got the feed from Keenan, his twister shot went far side, and it was 7 – 3 lead for the Rush. At that point, Calgary Bench Boss Josh Sanderson had seen enough and Cam MacLeod (5 saves) got the nod and replaced Walsh in between the pipes. The only penalty of the frame was a holding call on Saskatchewan and the Roughnecks would capitalize. Pace passed across the floor to Haiden Dickson (3G, 4A) whose quick stick beat Scigliano to the short side to make it 7 – 4 Rush. A minute later Church got the pass in the middle from Levi Anderson (1G, 1A) and his high to low shot beat Mcleod through the legs for his hat trick goal, and the four-goal lead was restored for the Rush. Things stalled a bit before another tally hit the back of the net. Three minutes later Shanks got a pass in the middle and his off-speed floater shot went over the shoulder giving him a hat trick on the night and it was 9 – 4 for Saskatchewan. Calgary would notch one before the end of the second. Kyle Pepper (1G) picked up a loose ball in his own end, went end to end, made his defender miss their check and beat Scigliano to the far side with a bounce shot for his first NLL goal of his career to make it 9 – 5 for the Rush. With the clock winding down and less than a minute to go, two Calgary defenders moved to cover Manns, he passed to a wide open Church who stepped around MacLeod beating him to the far side for his fourth goal and it is 10 – 5 for the Rush at the end of the first half. The shots on goal at the end of the first half were Saskatchewan 25 and Calgary 21.
The Roughnecks would outscore the Rush 3-1 in the third and would open the scoring in the second half a little over three minutes in. Dickson received a pass from Manning and beat Scigliano to cut the Rush lead to 10 – 6. Shanks would get the assist on their only tally in the frame when he found an open Keenan on the far side and his shot beat MacLeod to the short side to make it 11 – 6 for the Rush. With less than two minutes left in the quarter, Dickson went coast to coast and from his wrong side fired a bounce shot that beat Scigliano to the short side for his hat trick goal to cut the Rush lead to four at 11 – 7. The final tally came a minute later on a nice passing play. Brayden Mayea (2G, 2A) faked high, shot low and went five-hole and the gap was three, 11 – 8 for the Rush. The shots on goal at the end of the third quarter were Calgary 37 and Saskatchewan 35.
The fourth quarter was epic with the teams combining for 10 goals. The Rush would start it off while on the powerplay. Mike Messenger (2G, 3A) picked up a loose ball, ran the floor and his shot beat Walsh to the far side to increase the Rush lead to 12 – 8 just over a minute into the frame. Less than a minute later Mayea would beat his defender and his bounce shot on the run went five-hole and it was 12 – 9 for the Rush. Anderson would extend the Rush lead once again with a sidearm shot that went glove side, and it was 13 – 9 for the Rush. Calgary would respond a couple of minutes later with a laser of a sidearm shot by Tanner Cook’s (2G, 3A) over the shoulder into the top corner to make it 13 – 10. Calgary would continue to mount a comeback with another three in a row. Manning came to the top of the floor and his high to low shot went short side cutting the lead to two at 13 – 11. A minute later Pace came right down the middle and his bounce shot beat Scigliano through the five hole to make it a one goal game at 13 – 12 for the Rush. With less than seven minutes left in the fourth, Calgary made it all the way back to tie the game. Cook beat his defender and his shot beat Scigliano to the far side and it was 13 all. Two minutes later Manns got the pass from Shanks and his high to low shot went stick side to regain the one goal lead for the Rush at 14 – 13. Five minutes ticked off the timer with neither team finding twine. With less than 20 seconds left in the contest, while trying to get the ball back to tie the game Calgary took a penalty and on the ensuing power play with the Calgary goalie on the bench and 15 seconds on the clock, Manns would fire into the open net for his hat trick goal to make it 15 – 13 for the Rush. On the final face-off of the night, Messenger took the faceoff, won the draw, and as the goalie came out to check him, he got around him and put it in the empty net to make the final score 16 – 13 for the Rush.
The three stars of the game were:
Austin Shanks – Saskatchewan Rush: 3 goals and 4 assists
Ryan Keenan – Saskatchewan Rush: 2 goals and 5 assists
Tyler Pace – Calgary Roughnecks: 3 goals and 4 assists
GAME STATS:
Calgary Roughnecks: SOG 51; Saves 29; Sv% .644; FO 26-33; PP 2-3; PIM 12
Saskatchewan Rush: SOG 45; Saves 38; Sv% .745; FO 7-33; PP 3-6; PIM 6
NEXT UP:
The Saskatchewan Rush (1-0) will travel to Ottawa to face the Black Bears (0-1) on Friday December 12, 2025, game time 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+ and NLL+. This is a Friday Night on TSN game and fans in Canada can see the game on TSN+ and TSN.
The Calgary Roughnecks (0-1) will also head out on the road and will face off against the Toronto Rock (0-1) on Saturday December 14, 2025, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and NLL+ for fans in the USA, while fans in Canada can see the game on TSN+.
Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©